I could let out a sigh of relief because my mom didn't scold me, and it turned out she didn't need her bank card. In fact, she gave me the bank card in case I wanted to treat Chloe or other friends later.

If I may express my opinion, it seems she's overly happy and excited when she sees her only child have a friend again, especially a female friend. Yeah, even though I know in this era, relationships between males and females are not the only common sexual relationships, but my mom still hopes that I can have offspring in a 'conservative' way.

I, on the other hand, don't mind that at all, and I'm not bothered if I have to have a relationship with anyone —if it's possible. Because my only hope in this matter is to have a friend, especially a life partner, regardless of their gender —I don't care, as long as they can make me comfortable.

After dealing with my mom, I kept my promise to Desmond to wait for him in my room.

At first, I wasn't too tense, but after rethinking about it, I became nervous. The main thing that made me nervous was Desmond's ghost friends. So far, I have never met any of Desmond's ghost friends, even though Desmond has told me about them several times. Of course, except for Cherry, and even that was only for a short while.

While waiting for Desmond to come back with his ghost friends, I spent time looking at the paper given by Leina. I was just curious about the paper —what was it all about? Or, at least, was there any writing on it?

I also thought about several things that might explain why I could see and hold Leina's paper but Desmond couldn't. But from the various possibilities I could think of, none of them could be believed

Deep down, I actually hoped Chloe could be here. I was very sure that Chloe could explain the questions raised by Leina's paper since Leina is Chloe's phantom. And, I was also sure that their relationship was very strong because Chloe looked so relieved when I told her that Leina was fine.

After about an hour of waiting for Desmond, but he still hadn't come, my nervous turned into anxiety. My thoughts only focused on two things, whether Desmond still remembered his promise to find out about Leina's paper here, and whether Desmond was fine.

Because Desmond still hadn't come. Even after patiently waiting for him for another few minutes, my curiosity about Leina's paper started to fade, replaced by my curiosity about the book Desmond had been reading that I had accidentally seen still on my desk.

So, I decided to put Leina's paper back into my pocket and began reading Desmon's book titled 'Phantom History'.

The first thing that came to my mind when I started touching Desmond's book was whether ebooks existed in the ghost world. I mean, if ebooks did exist, why did Desmond choose to read a physical book? Was it because there was no environmental crisis in the ghost world, so cutting down trees —if ghost books were made from trees— could be done freely?

In this era, I must admit that books were still widely sold, but ownership of books could be considered limited. Besides needing some kind of permit mentioning that I had contributed something to the environment, like planting a tree, book prices were also relatively high.

Sure, I had some books, but they weren't really mine, not even my family's. All the books in my house were gifts, either from my parents' friends, or they were rewards, or whatever it was.

Of course, the books I meant were exclusive ones made from trees, not synthetic materials. If the book was made from synthetic materials, I had plenty of those.

So, the thought crossed my mind that Desmond might be rich in the ghost world, or another possibility was that there was no environmental crisis in the ghost world.

I opened the book cover to see the first page of the book. Somehow, my gaze was right away drawn to a sentence written in the upper right corner, the sentence being 'Cherry's book.'

I smiled. Oh... Desmond.

I continued flipping through the pages of the book, but unfortunately, the early pages of the book didn't get my attention. Everything was written in a complicated way because it only contained lists of terms used in the book.

When I turned the next page again, I felt a strong death aura approaching me. So, I closed the book right away.

I stood in the middle of my room, wanting to find out where the death aura was coming from. But the death aura moved fast, and I couldn't figure out its direction.

At first, I thought the death aura came from a vengeful ghost, and honestly, it scared me. But shortly after, I felt something different. The death aura seemed to come from many ghosts, not just one. So, I right away thought it might be Desmond and his friends.

Shortly after, my thoughts become reality.

I didn't expect Desmond to bring six of his friends. At first, when he said he would inform his friends, I thought he would only bring Cherry or at most three of his friends, including Cherry. But here were six ghosts in my house. No wonder I could sense their death aura from a distance.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting," Desmond said to me. "Let me introduce you to my friends. Maybe, aside from Cherry, others can introduce themselves."

"Hey, you Robert, right? I'm Johnny, nice to meet you," said the chubby ghost with a weird hat on his head.

"I'm Hellen," said the older-looking female ghost. "And this is my son, Vic," continued Hellen, pointing to the ghost on her left who looked mature but wore clothes and behaved like a child.

If I had to guess, maybe Vic had a disorder, who knows.

"Yo, wassup, you can call me Mr. G," said the next ghost, whose appearance looked like a young man addicted to alcohol in my opinion.

"Nice to meet you, I am Kim Jaehyun," said the ghost who looked like a bookworm to me.

Desmond moved towards me and made a gesture as if introducing me, "And this is Robert, The Exception."

Huft.

I really didn't know how to deal with Desmond anymore.

After the introductions, Desmond asked me to sit on the edge of my bed, while the other ghosts formed a semi-circle in front of me. Except for Desmond, who was right in the middle among all of us.

Desmond began discussing Leina's paper by briefly explaining who Leina was, what a phantom was, and talking about Chloe's explanations. It ended when he asked me to show Leina's paper.

"So, can anyone see the paper that Robert is holding?" Desmond asked, finishing his presentation.

Although the words coming out of their mouths were different, their meanings were the same —they couldn't see the paper I was holding.

Because some of them not sure, some of them approached me to look more closely.

"Is it transparent for you, or does it look real?" Jaehyun asked, his face closest to my hand.

"Transparent, even more transparent than the paper from your world," I replied, met with curious looks from Jaehyun.

While Jaehyun looked closely, I could see Hellen also getting closer to my hand, although not as close as Jaehyun. Meanwhile, Johnny seemed busy with something that looked like a rollable smartphone but translucent. Then, Mr. G seemed to be chatting with Cherry about something I couldn't guess. Then, as for Vic, you can just ignore him in his own world.

"Interesting. Do you feel any sensation?" Jaehyun asked again.

"What do you mean?"

"Sensation, like a cold or warm feeling, soft or hard, anything."

I shook my head, "No."

After a while, Jaehyun seemed satisfied, and he returned to his place, as did Hellen. Meanwhile, Johnny called Desmond and discussed something.

"So, have you all finished looking at it?" I asked them all when I was sure they weren't looking at my hand anymore.

As usual, their words were different, but they all said that they had finished looking at Leina's paper. So, I could put it back in my pocket and lower my hand that was starting to feel stiff.

After the discussion with Johnny was over, Desmond returned to his position in the middle of us. "So, does anyone want to share opinion first?"

Mr. G raised his hand. "Sorry, but I can't see anything, so maybe he's lying." he said, pointing towards me.

Without me needing to say anything in defense, Desmond already stood up for me, "Hey! I know you don't know him, but he's my friend, and I trust him."

Desmond then added by pointing back at Mr. G, "If you still don't like it, it's better for you to leave. Thank you."

I only now realized that Desmond was open-minded, or in other words, he always expressed his feelings without hiding them. So, I didn't expect him to be that firm.

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Even in my own opinion, Desmon's behavior seemed a bit much. I mean, it's understandable if Mr. G couldn't trust me because he didn't see the paper from Leina, and he had just met me. Isn't that normal? But it seems like Desmon didn't want his friend to be underestimated.

Mr. G's gaze suddenly changed, he seemed angry at Desmond for kicking him out. But Cherry, who was next to him, immediately whispered something to him. I don't know what Cherry whispered, but Mr. G immediately left even though his gaze still held anger towards Desmond.

Honestly, I've never seen ghosts fight before, so this is also my first experience.

After Mr. G left, Cherry approached Desmond. "I know there's doubt from all of you about Robert. But please consider Robert not lying, consider Robert telling the truth. Because this is a very rare opportunity and maybe the only one we have to learn more about the phantom world."

"Just like this, what Robert and I want is an answer. If you don't trust us, you're free to leave anytime. But if you trust us, let's together find the answers." Desmond said to complete Cherry's words.

Jaehyun raised his hand, "I can trust him, but finding the answers will be difficult, so I'll excuse myself for a while to gather some information."

"Please," Desmond replied, "I think we might also need time to find information, so how about we take a break for a few minutes before returning."

I nodded and expressed my agreement, as did the other ghosts.

Although Desmond said to take a break to gather information, I had a different intention when agreeing, which was to go to the kitchen and grab some soft drinks and snacks to bring back to my room. Well, what can I say, I was too thirsty from waiting for Desmond for too long.

###

It turns out my mother was already in the kitchen. When I looked, she grabbed a can of drink and a lunchbox.

"Where are you going, Mom?" I asked to greet her as I walked towards the fridge.

My mother seemed to have noticed my presence, so she wasn't surprised. "Go to office again, got some work to finish."

I grabbed two cans and snacks from the fridge.

My mom, looking rushed with her bag and lunchbox, kept talking. "I might be home late, so order your own food. And don't forget to wear warm clothes, it seems the weather will get cold."

Honestly, I could guess the cold my mom felt because of eight ghosts in my room, bringing a pretty strong death aura. But I couldn't tell her, so I just nodded with all my mom's advice before she quickly left.

After my mom left, I didn't go back right away to my room but checked something in the kitchen to make sure she didn't forget anything. It was during this check that I was startled by Vic's sudden appearance out of nowhere.

"Shit! You scared me, Vic," I said.

But Vic didn't show any expression or say anything. He just stay silent, staring at me.

Since I got no response from Vic, I slowly stepped back, thinking about returning to my room. His behavior made me somewhat frightened.

And indeed, Vic suddenly moved to block my path to the room.

"Vic, what are you doing?" I asked again, trying to walk in another direction.

Just like before, Vic still didn't respond, and his face looked empty to me, really like a dead person, not a ghost, but the body of someone who died.

I could only take a few steps before Vic blocked my path again.

"Vic, what do you want? Do you want something?" I asked again.

I took another path again after Vic still gave no response, and the same thing happened again —he blocked me again.

"Vic!" I said, this time quite loudly.

But even so, Vic still didn't respond, and his gaze still empty.

Fortunately, this time Hellen came and held Vic's hand.

"Sorry, my child is a bit strange," said Hellen, holding both of Vic's hands. "Please go ahead, I've got him."

"Thank you," I replied, continuing my way to the room.

Before my sight was blocked by the wall, I briefly glanced at Hellen and Vic. I saw Hellen seeming to advise Vic, but Vic just ignored her and kept staring at me with his empty facial expression. Too bad, our eyes met.

###

I waited for about half an hour to give Desmon's ghost friends time to gather information about the paper given by Leina.

Desmon, who also seemed bored waiting, finally returned to his position. "Well, I think the time is enough. So, does anyone want to say something?"

Johnny, Hellen, Vic, Jaehyun, and Cherry, hearing Desmond's words, then went back to their positions.

"Unfortunately, I didn't find anything that could help," said Johnny.

Hellen, who had been holding Vic's hand, shook her head. It seemed to me that Hellen was too focused on keeping Vic from wandering rather than finding answers about Leina's strange paper.

That makes sense to me because Vic, until now, still stared at me with a blank expression and hadn't said anything at all.

Next, Jaehyun still busy reading the book he brought and didn't respond to Desmon.

Meanwhile, Cherry, like me, looking everyone, finally asked, "Did you find something, Jaehyun?"

Noticing that everyone was expecting him to say something, Jaehyun finally closed his book. "From what I read, there's a unique and interesting theory worth hearing."

Hearing that Jaehyun seemed to have an answer to this issue, all of our attention —except Vic's— shifted focus to Jaehyun.

Jaehyun cleared his throat, "This theory was proposed by a human expert named Harold. He presented a less-known theory, but I think it's the closest to what we know now."

Jaehyun silent for a moment to make sure all our attention was on him. "In his theory, Harold explains that a phantom is a term for an entity existing in two worlds but also not in two worlds at the same time."

Being and not being in two worlds at the same time. I'm not sure I can understand the meaning of that explanation. When I looked at Desmon and the other ghosts, it seemed like they also didn't understand Jaehyun's point.

"Basically, a phantom is a human or ghost that is difficult to be seen by other humans or ghosts. That's why it's called a phantom, which has the meaning of an apparition or image, as it can only be seen sometimes in certain unexplained conditions. So, many people believe phantoms are just illusions," continued Jaehyun.

I was wondering, was I the only one who was stupid, or were they all pretending to understand Jaehyun's unclear explanation?

"So, is Leina a human or a ghost? And why can only I see her while you all can't?" I asked, not caring if they thought I was foolish or not. At least someone had to ask so I could understand better.

When I asked, I actually felt a bit awkward, getting attention from all of them. You can imagine being stared at by six ghosts, you'd be scared.

Fortunately, it didn't last long because when Jaehyun answered, he drew back all that attention to himself.

"Leina you mentioned is quite simple. If we delve deeper into Harold's theory, we can easily reach that conclusion. First, we need to identify who can see and who can't see Leina. If ghosts can see her but humans can't, then Leina is a ghost. However, if both ghosts and humans can see her, then Leina is human. Then-"

"Sorry," I cut off Jaehyun's words. I didn't mean to be rude, but I was a bit confused by the conclusion Jaehyun took. "I just want to ask why you can reach such a conclusion?"

Jaehyun looked at me, "You should have known that only ghosts can see other ghosts, except in certain cases like yours, having a vision. And you should have known too that ghosts and humans both can see humans. Isn't that clear enough?"

"Okay, thanks," I said, feeling embarrassed for not understanding something so simple.

"So, what about Leina? She can't be seen at all except by Robert," Desmon asked Jaehyun.

"And Chloe, don't forget your own story," Jaehyun replied. "That's why I said it's quite simple."

Our attention back to Jaehyun, hoping he would continue his explanation soon.

"Leina can only be seen by those with vision, which means she's a ghost. But strangely, she's not visible to other ghosts. So, Leina, who we call a phantom, is in the condition that should make her visible to ghosts, a condition that only Robert and Chloe have fulfilled. Can you guys guess what the condition was?" Jaehyun continued.

It seems I'll never be a good fit to be friends with Jaehyun, his explanations are just too unclear for me. I mean, of course, Leina is a phantom that can't be seen by anyone, but why is she only visible to me? That's the real question. But Jaehyun just kept talking in circles without giving any clear explanations.

"So, in other words, according to your theory and the theory you've read, Leina is a ghost that can't be seen by other ghosts unless certain conditions are met?" said Cherry, summing up Jaehyun's explanation, and it really helped me understand Jaehyun's explanation much better.

Jaehyun's confusing explanation with Harold's theory, seems to match Chloe's explanation, especially the part I understood, which is that Leina or phantoms are ghosts that are hard to see or even invisible to other ghosts. Even so, Chloe's explanation seems more detailed so far, saying that phantoms are vengeful ghosts whose grudges have been gotten rid of.

Jaehyun nodded, "You can say it like that. So, according to Harold's theory, actually, all of us ghosts could have seen Leina and the paper from Leina if we met certain conditions, just like Robert and Chloe who had met those conditions."

"So, what's that condition?" I asked.

Johnny raised his hand with a small cough, which I took as a request for attention. "You said the condition Robert and Chloe have? Does that mean something not owned by ghosts?" Johnny asked after getting our attention.

Then our attention back to Jaehyun, waiting for his answer, but he just nodded.

"Could it possibly be related to humans or something related to life?" Cherry asked.

"But if it's related to humans, other humans should be able to see it too, not just me and Chloe. Right?" I said while looking at each of them, hoping someone would agree with me.

Johnny chuckled after hearing my opinion, "Sorry, but it seems you still don't understand. Let me help explain. So-"

Desmon seemed to ignore Johnny's words by interrupting him, "The point is, based on Harold's theory, a phantom is an entity in two worlds, meaning it's a ghost that also has something related to humans —in other words, a life aura."

Jaehyun smiled hearing Desmon's words, "You're right. The main reason why we, ghosts, can't see Leina is that she has a barrier, possibly the life aura Desmon mentioned. That also explains why Robert and Chloe can see Leina, as they both have the vision to see ghosts and the life aura to penetrate Leina's barrier."

"So, in other words, to see Leina or the phantom, we must have auras from two worlds, the death aura and the life aura?" Cherry asked.

"Exactly," Jaehyun replied.

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